The Future Tense
Conceptual Overview
The future tense indicates that the action of a verb has yet to take place, but it’s certain that it will happen. In English, the future tense shows up with the auxiliary verbs “will” or “shall”. Take a look at some examples in English, with the Latin equivalent of the verb in parentheses:
- She will do (faciet) her homework tonight.
- They shall give (dabunt) free pizza to the students next week.
- The teacher will write (scrībet) the exam tomorrow.
- The songs shall be sung (canentur) by the choir next weekend.
So, the future tense can be translated with the auxiliary verbs “will” or “shall”: for example, “he will write” or “it will be written.”
1st and 2nd Conjugations
Like the present tense, the future tense has different rules for formation depending on the conjugation of the verb in question. The 1st and 2nd conjugation operate on the same rules: you get the present stem (by going to the 2nd principal part and chopping off the -re), and then you add the same set of endings:
Active
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -bō | -bimus |
| 2nd | -bis | -bitis |
| 3rd | -bit | -bunt |
Passive (note the vowel shift in the 2nd singular)
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -bor | -bimur |
| 2nd | -beris | -biminī |
| 3rd | -bitur | -buntur |
Note that these endings are composed of the letter -b, a vowel (ō, i, or u), and the personal endings that are familiar from the present tense (-ō, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt for active; -r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -minī, -ntur for passive).
So, for example, the 1st person singular future active indicative of amō, *amāre, amāvī, amātus is amābō, “I will love.” The third person singular future passive indicative of moneō, monēre, monuī, monitus is monēbitur, “he/she/it will be warned.”
3rd, 4th, and 3rd -iō Conjugations
The formation of the future tense in the 3rd, 4th, and 3rd -iō conjugations follow different rules. As in the present tense, these conjugations use vowel shifts to indicate the future tense.
A quick mnemonic that can help you remember the differences in 1st/2nd conjugations and 3rd/4th/3rd iō conjugations in the future tense is:
-bō, -bi, bu in 1 and 2; a and e in 4 and 3
The -bō, -bi, -bu part summarizes the future endings in the 1st and 2nd conjugation. Let’s see what the “a and e in 4 and 3” part means.
3rd Conjugation
To form the future tense of third conjugation verbs, you first find the present stem (which, again, means that you go to the 2nd principal part and chop off the -re). For example, the present stem of regō, regere, rēxī, rectus, “to rule”, is rege-.
In the future tense, that final -e either remains an -e or lengthens to a long -ē in all persons and numbers except 1st sg., in which it shifts to an -a. Then, you tack on the personal ending that you need (using an -m rather than -ō for the 1st sg. active).
Active
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | regam | regēmus |
| 2nd | regēs | regētis |
| 3rd | reget | regent |
Passive
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | regar | regēmur |
| 2nd | regēris | regēminī |
| 3rd | regētur | regentur |
Note how similar these forms look to their present tense equivalents; often, one letter makes all the difference. For example:
- regit, “she rules” (present tense)
- reget, “she will rule” (future tense)
- regeris, “you are ruled” (present tense, short -e)
- regēris, “you will be ruled” (future tense, long -e)
Make sure to be careful about how the form is spelled!
4th and 3rd -iō Conjugations
In the 4th conjugation, the future tense retains the -i in the stem before adding the appropriate -a or -e and the personal endings. Let’s take audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītus, “to hear”, as an example:
Active
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | audiam | audiēmus |
| 2nd | audiēs | audiētis |
| 3rd | audiet | audient |
Passive
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | audiar | audiēmur |
| 2nd | audiēris | audiēminī |
| 3rd | audiētur | audientur |
The third -iō conjugation, like the fourth conjugation, uses -i- as a stem vowel before adding the appropriate -a or -e and personal endings. So, with capiō, capere, cēpī, captus, “to take, seize”, we chop the -re off capere (= cape-) and then change the final -e to -i (= capi-) before adding the endings:
Active
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | capiam | capiēmus |
| 2nd | capiēs | capiētis |
| 3rd | capiet | capient |
Passive
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | capiar | capiēmur |
| 2nd | capiēris | capiēminī |
| 3rd | capiētur | capientur |
Again, one letter makes the difference between present and future. For example:
- audit, “she hears” (present tense)
- audiet, “she will hear” (future tense)
- capimus, “we take” (present tense)
- capiēmus, “we will take” (future tense)
- audiuntur, “they are heard” (present tense)
- audientur, “they will be heard” (fuure tense)
Analyze the word carefully in terms of spelling to determine what tense it is!